The most ultimate time of the year

I seem to have taken an internet vacation this last week. I suppose that's what vacation is for, even though I wasn't on vacation FROM anything, since I haven't been back to school yet. It wasn't a genuine internet vacation either, I've just been spending more time on Facebook than I have on Blogger. Facebook looks like it could potentially waste a lot of time, but it has been pretty entertaining at the same time. It's a good thing I'm so excited to go back to school and do homework, or I might waste a whole semester again. I hope they assign me lots of reading. I read more when I have to. Sometimes even when I have a good book of my choice I stop reading in the middle just because I find something else to read and distract myself. When it's homework, I can usually discipline myself enough to stick it out and finish the reading, which is usually interesting enough to keep my attention as well as the next book. I have started four books in the last six weeks and have finished only one. It's hard to get sick of a book that you don't read past page ninety.
It's also hard to sit down and read when I have my two nephews and my two brothers here. It's so much fun to have a family again. Reading will always be a lower priority than my family. My nephews are so cute, it will be a sad day when they leave for Utah, and onward to Minnesota again.

Major Overhaul

This afternoon I started reading my book by Otto Jespersen, and I decided that there's no way I could not study linguistics and still be entirely happy. So I pretty much decided in a period of about twenty minutes that I am not going to major in Spanish Teaching after all, but I will major in Linguistics instead, like I had originally planned. I still may end up teaching Spanish, who knows, but I think that it will be more enjoyable and more intrinsically motivational to study Linguistics than it would be to focus all my time on Spanish. I don't know exactly what I want to do with a degree in linguistics, but I don't have to know that right now. I might teach English as a second language, I might teach Spanish, I might go work for the CIA or be a sports column writer in Florida, I don't know. And right this minute, I don't care either. What I would really like to do more than anything is study and research and conduct so many surveys and studies that my name comes up on Google when you type in "Linguistics." Call me crazy, but I'd rather be a professor of Linguistics than a middle school Spanish teacher. And if I go to graduate school, which I hope to be able to do, it won't really matter what my Bachelor's degree is in anyway. So I'm going to study what I want to study most, and leave the rest unsettled for now. So I just scrapped my whole plan for the next four years, and I'm starting over, again, and I think it will be much better for me in the end. In twenty minutes I decided something that may have a huge impact on the rest of my life, and at the very least will have an impact on my happiness while at BYU. I am so excited to start school again, I can't even explain how much I've missed studying there. In the past week, I've made so many major life decisions that if I continue at this rate, I will probably be living in Ukraine by the end of January working in a hospital or something. Well, maybe not, but that's the best way I can relate how I feel. I feel so inadequate with words sometimes. I was wondering today how many words I actually know, and would I be able to communicate my thoughts more clearly with a larger vocabulary, or do I just need to work on organizing my thoughts better using the words I have already learned. What am I missing here? Why can't we all just be telepathic? That would be so nice, but I guess then there wouldn't be a linguistics program at any university, and that would dash all of my hopes and dreams too. I just can't win.

Oh dear...

My brother Michael had a spot on his blog saying what kind of animal he was. Here's mine.

You Are A: Monkey!

Monkeys are intelligent and agile, well-adapted for jungle life as they swing happily from tree to tree. As a monkey, you are a social animal who prefers a warm climate, eats a wide range of food and is quick to learn new things. A monkey's tiny primate features are irresistable, as is his gregarious personality!

You were almost a: Puppy or a Frog
You are least like a: Groundhog or a LambDiscover What Cute Animal You Are!

So... It looks like I'm a monkey. Fitting, I suppose. I guess that means that I like stealing small fruits and I become emotionally attached to whatever people I'm not busy throwing poop at. This doesn't mean much to me, because most people that take this quiz end up being monkeys, and are least like groundhogs, which is exactly what it told me I was. Hmm... maybe I'm just exactly like everyone else. That was a good exchange though, I'd say, being called a monkey for only two minutes of my afternoon that it cost me to take the quiz.

14 degrees out today... daggum it

Today is the day. After 21 years of waiting, I have finally been summoned to jury duty. In less than one hour, I am required to call to see if they need me today. I'm on pins and needles, just hoping that at 10:30 I will be at the courthouse being interviewed by attorneys. The most I have ever done in a courthouse is translate, and I took a tour of the Boise Courthouse once in Cub Scouts but I've never been a part of the legal system before. This is my duty as an American citizen, just like voting, and if I don't ever get to do it, I will feel cheated. How many of the 7 billion people on the earth even have the opportunity to be jurors? I find out in 54 minutes if I'm one of them. My alarm went off at 7 AM this morning, but I was already awake, happily thinking about jury duty. It's going to be great.
Yesterday I went Christmas caroling for the first time in three years, and also checked out books from the library for the first time in over two years. I feel like I just got out of prison and I can do anything I want to. In my high school Latin class, I used to mix up the word for book with the word for freedom, so it kind of makes sense now. I really miss being a missionary, but I also really miss reading about history and linguistic philosophy, something I could never do on my mission. I'm in that awkward stage of life where I have no clue what's going on, and I can't decide if I'm happy or sad or elated or devastated; I can't decide if I'm more happy to be with my family or if I miss the South more, and, after a month of deliberation I don't really know whether I'm happy to be back or not. I have no real plans for the near future, just a long range blurred vision of a couple of vague goals that may or may not ever happen. But I'm content this morning, I'm ignoring life, and I've decided that today is going to rock, no matter what happens. We'll see about tomorrow, and the day after when I get that far.

10:05 Update. "They settled, you are excused for today. Please call back this evening after 5. Thank you."

Things from south of the South

I have been meaning to put pictures of these souvenirs on my blog for quite a while, but I never remem-
bered to take pictures of them when I was in the blogging mood. This morning I just finally decided to do it. I'm about a month overdue. Anyway, here are some things that I collected while I was in North Carolina. I came back with a lot more than just this, but these are the things I like most. Most of these items were gifts from people that I got to know pretty well. I will put them on in chronological order of when I got them.



The first two pictures are a little handmade clay doll from Ecuador, given to me by Nancy Guerra.


This is a pot holder, also handmade in Ecuador, also a gift from Nancy.




This is a knife with the Mexican flag on the handle and "Viva Mexico" on the blade. It's pretty sweet. I love Mexico so much. I want to go to Mexico City and Oaxaca and Guerrero and Michoacan, and Chiapas, and Monterrey, and Guadalajara and Guanajuato, and pretty much every other place in Mexico.



This is a wooden flute from Ecuador, I bought it from some of my friends who worked at Smiley's Flea Market in Fletcher, NC. They were real native Americans from Ecuador, and they spoke Spanish along with their native language. I talked to them often, as we went to the flea market almost every Saturday, and I was in the area almost eight months.


This is a replica of a very ancient and special artifact from Peru. It antedates the Inca civilization, but I don't remember anymore what the name of the civilization was. I will have to look that up. This was given to me by Raul Quino my last day in North Carolina. I love Peruvian people, they are so cool. I could live in Peru.

Well, that's all the souvenirs that I've taken pictures of for now. I'm rather fond of them.

Scary Dream

Last night, I dreamed that I was in a group searching for Glenn Gould and I dreamed that every step of this journey was a fight to survive. We had to cross mountains and fields and we walked probably thousands of miles, and the worst part was that the whole way there, the rocks would join together to form giants that would then attack us. In the fields of tall grass, the grass would wrap around our ankles and we had to constantly cut it off of ourselves or be dragged down and suffocated. Most of the time our feet weren't even on the ground, we were just standing on top of the grass, and every so often it would give way and we would drop below the surface. If we walked too close to a tree it would wrap its gnarled arms around our necks and feet. Everything that could possibly come alive and attack us and try to stop us did so. You don't know how terrible grass can be until something like this happens to make you appreciate the terror of the situation. I remember how desolately gray and brown the whole landscape was. When we reached the top of one mountain, we had to climb over jagged rocks to find that there was no way down the other side. We couldn't drink the water because it would change from blue to purple and things like neatly arranged leaves and twigs would appear on the surface, and several times they talked to us. We ended up finding Glenn Gould, and it turns out he was the one causing all of our discomfort along the way, with his mind, and he was actually going with us the whole way and we didn't recognize him. The whole thing was like a mix between Lord of the Rings, an Andy Goldsworthy exhibit, and death. Don't get me wrong, I still like Glenn Gould, and I still like Andy Goldsworthy, but they definitely should not be allowed in the same dream together. My subconscious almost died last night, then where would I be?

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

I'm feeling festive today. The first music I listened to this morning was Christmas music I found in an email played by a local trombone star. I dressed in my only green and red shirt to go donate blood this morning (blood is also red, therefore festive!) After collecting my pint or so of blood, they gave me a red sticker that says "Be nice to me. I gave blood today." and a rem arm band. You just don't get more spirited than this. When I got back, I took a few pictures of the Christmas decorations in my house. And now I'm just sitting here typing this and thinking of Christmas elves as I listen to Enya. I think she's an elf. And I think that Enya plays in heaven. The only thing that is missing this year is the snow, but who's complaining? The sun is even out today! I feel terrific. Here are some of my pictures. I have to give credit to my mother, the creative genius behind all the decorations and locations of furnishings. Merry Christmas!


This is me looking fabulous in my Vermont-
themed Christmas outfit. Notice the attractive
arm band on my left arm. Those are a hot item,
everyone should donate blood this Christmas
season to get your very own.













This is the stocking that I've had since I was born. Awwww... I especially like the holly tucked up under his hat. I'll do anything for a good sprig of holly.

This is the first thing you see when you come
into my house. Isn't it beautiful?















This is a picture of a nice sunny day. It looks pretty blue, because well, it's winter. But it's a nice effort. I think it's impossible to take a red picture in the winter. It's really more of a summer color, and you can't fool the sun. Blue it is.

So long

Man, it's been so long since I've posted anything. I feel like a lamewad. Sorry devoted fans, if there are any out there. I guess I haven't been thinking about my blog much lately. Sorry blog. Well, goodnight world, I'm going to bed because I just got really tired. Julie (my sister) just told me to enjoy going to bed when I'm tired because I may never have that privilege again. Uggh. But I'm glad I do for now.

Friday night

I haven't updated this thing in a full business week. I guess it's high time I remedied that. We got our Christmas tree put up and decorated between yesterday and today, and we also thoroughly destroyed the friendly inviting appearance of our family room. But at least the bookshelf is clean and all the books are in alphabetical order by author. We threw some things away, we made a pile of things to give away, and we neatly packed away several things that we're keeping. We decided that we really don't need 784 puzzles. Ok, and we didn't actually have that many, but it seemed like it. It actually looks a lot nicer. Then I took a break and played some racquetball and soaked in a hot tub for the first time in years. It was pretty cool. And now I have to go eat dinner.

I can't see

So it's like 12:30 am on Tuesday, and just about five minutes ago, I started having some eye trouble. I can't see very well. There are spots all over, and I can't see half of what I'm typing. I didn't look at the sun or anything, I have no explanation at all for this. But I'm going to bed to see if that cures it. Or I might just go blind overnight. We'll find out. Goodnight world. I hope to see the morning. Yikes.

Gosh, it's already December

Good morning world. It's Sunday morning and I feel great. All of my clothes are clean and I am freshly showered and ready for the day. All the blinds are open and it's sunny out, which I am very fond of. There's still a little bit of snow on the ground, and it's only twenty degrees, but at least it's sunny, and I'm indoors. It feels rather warm inside. Holy cow, Sundays are different at home than on my mission. Usually we would wake up extra early because we both had to get ready and eat, and we had to fill out a progress record for our early correllation meetings. This morning I slept in until a quarter to nine, then stayed in bed until ten. You'd never see me do that on my mission. And we just got the living room furniture set up for choir practice, and the choir is starting to arrive. We're doing Christmas music from now on, and it's going to be spectacular. I love Christmas music, especially when I don't even have to leave my house to hear a live choir sing in my home. It's pretty convenient. I think it's going to be a pretty good day.

It's Snowing

So it's really cold here. I don't really like it very much. That's about all I have to say about that.

I looked for my Civil War book today for a long time, and then my mom told me that she had it in her room. So I went and got it, but didn't have much time to read in it. I read probably three sections. They were pretty cool. I hadn't read for more than a week, so I kind of had to backtrack to make sure I knew where I was. Me and that book go way back. Good times.

I've been drinking a lot of water today. I just finished my third glass. It's actually my third plastic, but no one would understand if I said it that way. I drank three though. I had three "glasses" of milk for dinner too, but that's not really a surprise, now is it? It's about as dry here as it is cold. My lips are both cracked, and my hands feel like beef jerky. I'm doing my best to act like mildew by staying both warm and wet. But they say that storing things in cool, dry places usually helps them to last longer, so maybe Idaho isn't so bad for me after all.

I really miss Julie. I just needed to get that out.

Today I went shopping, and drove past the temple on the way there and back. I realized last night that I've seen all four of the temples in Idaho since I got back from North Carolina. That's pretty cool. It's pretty different being home, during my mission I never saw a single temple, and now I drive past the Boise temple all the time. Tomorrow I will have been home two weeks. I guess that went by faster than I expected it to. I kind of miss being in North Carolina. I think about it a lot. I think about Hickory a lot too, and I wonder what everyone's up to. A lot of great things happened to me in Hickory and I met tons of great people. I sure miss them. I wish it was easier to keep in touch with all the people I met, but it's just not possible.

I really miss speaking Spanish too. There just aren't as many Hispanic people in Boise, and I have hardly had any opportunities to practice my Spanish. I love Spanish. I think I'll type something in Spanish, for the benefit of anyone who can read it. If you want to you can ask me to translate it for you. He estado pensando ultimamente en lo que es mi vida. Creo que mi mision me ha ayudado mas que cualquier otra cosa hasta ahora para encontrar el proposito de la vida. Entiendo mejor ahora que la vida no es un juego, no es accidente. Es una prueba. Y es una experiencia muy positiva si vivimos correctamente. He podido conocer a mucha gente nueva durante toda mi vida, y sigo conociendo a otras personas cada dia. Algunas de aquellas personas llegan a ser muy buenos amigos. Pienso mucho de mi familia y de mis amigos, y pienso mucho en el evangelio y la iglesia. Son todo para mi. No hay ninguna cosa en el mundo que vale mas que mi testimonio de la verdad. Yo haria cualquier cosa para asegurar que mi familia este conmigo para las eternidades, y ahora estoy comprometido a hacer mi parte para empezar una familia nueva y asegurar que mis hijos y mi esposa esten conmigo tambien. Hare lo que sea para que sean felices. Amo a mi familia y a mi futura esposa. Espero que lo sepan.

Well, that was fun. I really should stop writing now though. It's getting late, and I'm getting tired. That's all for Thursday night.

My Old Stomping Grounds

This is a semi-obscured view of Charlotte, NC.
I used to live about ten minutes from
downtown. There was a pizza place in there
that we used to go to every Monday to break
up our weekly planning session.


Charlotte from the highway. Oh yeah, baby.
You just have to love the big city. I wouldn't
want to live there though, it's not very
family friendly. Or anyone friendly, for that
matter. I'll stick with Boise, even if it IS cold. 

Let it run wild

Today I woke up at 8:00 as usual. It's amazing how I always woke up at 6:30 every day for two years, and when I came home I kept waking up at 4:30 no matter how dark outside it was. And then all it took was one trip to Eastern Idaho for me to reset my clock and now all of a sudden I wake up at 8:00 every single morning. I wonder what will happen to me when I'm not living at home anymore. I'll probably find a new magical time.

Reality hit me pretty hard today too. Finances will never cease to frighten me. I tried to think out just how much money I will need for college next semester, and how much I plan on earning. If I get a good job, and work 20 hours a week, and eat nothing but the cheapest of generic brand ramen noodles, I will end up exactly even, to the dollar. Take out 10% of all future earnings for tithing, then add a wedding on top of that, several other small or large unexpected expenses, and getting my own insurance policy and not claiming dependency on my parents anymore, and we will have created what is commonly known as "debt", or in words that I understand a little better, "a headache for a soon-to-be married young poor college student with limited income". So, my plan is to first cry, and then work really, really hard all the time, and get good grades so that I can apply for and get a scholarship so that I don't have to drop out of school and sell newspapers on the curbside for a living. Real life is so different from getting free money put into my account on a regular basis and always having someone else take care of housing arrangements and gas money. Oh well. I'm only doing this because I chose to. Eventually this will work out for me much better than sitting at home all day every day and never working a day of my life, and playing video games and living in my parents' basement until I'm 30 and realizing that I'm still single. Life is going to be an exciting adventure. It's going to be good.

Well, I have to jet. I'm going to the gym with my dad again. We haven't gone yet today, so we're due. I think he wants to do some weight training and things. Which is good, I'm pretty worn out from yesterday's racquetball fiasco. I did so terribly yesterday. I think my beginner's luck is all but gone, I struggled to get the ball where I wanted it to be. I tried signing up for a racquetball course this afternoon, but of course they are all full still. Maybe someone will drop out by the time the semester starts. But I'm off to go let loose some built up adrenaline. Out, out vile adrenaline.

Long entry

This morning I made a long journal entry. But not on my blog. I spent almost an hour writing. That really got me ready for the day. I went and got my tuberculosis test done, but I have to go back on Friday or else they'll make me do the whole thing over again. The nurse who gave me the shot asked me if I would have a problem watching the needle go in. I said no. Then I watched the whole thing. It looked so cool, it was like watching a balloon slowly filling up with water. The bump is gone now though, but it was pretty big before. I wonder how far skin can stretch without bursting. I don't want to experiment though.

I practiced some Spanish today too. I decided to try reading aloud to not lose my skills. I can't believe it has been over a week since I have spoken Spanish to a native Spanish speaker. I have talked to several white guys in Spanish. I definitely don't want to lose practice, especially before my test for college credit. I found my big yellow Spanish book yesterday when I unpacked some things. I used to go through the assignments in there all the time, but I guess I haven't for a couple of weeks now. That is going to have to be one of my new goals, to study Spanish every day. There really aren't many Hispanic people in my part of town to talk to, so I'll have to talk to myself until I can get back to school. And then I will have a Hispanic professor, and two Spanish classes, and hopefully lots of Hispanic friends.

I got my tooth fixed today. It's another temporary composite, but it should last me until April when I will finally be insured and in a position to be able to come home during the week to have the crowns put on. But I have a full smile today for the first time since Thanksgiving. I wish it was Thanksgiving again. I think I'll take a picture of my new tooth. You can't even tell it's fake. Here's the photo. My little brother is in the background playing The Incredibles computer game. I finally saw that movie this week for the first time. I had started it about 4 other times, but now I can finally join the rest of mankind.



I hope everyone has a good day today. Talk to you later.

The longest Monday

So tonight it dawned on me how slowly today and yesterday have gone by. I thought it must have been Tuesday by now. But it's not. It's going to be a long week I think. Definitely different from last week. But I almost got my room cleaned, that's the good news. I got all my luggage emptied and out of my room, but I still have lots of small things with no homes on the floor. But I can see the carpet again. It looks a ton better. I shouldn't have let it go this long. I need to take some lessons from the Brawny Man on housekeeping. :) I'm making good progress I think. I only have two more boxes to unload. I need some hangers before I can make any more difference.

I played racquetball with my dad this afternoon. He's much better than I am, but I'm getting better. It's been so long since I've played racquetball. I need to make sure I can play when I get down to BYU, I have to challenge Andy to a racquetball duel. I haven't been practicing much in the last couple of years, so he'll probably beat me. But I really do like to play.

I listened to some of my old music today, and I realized that I don't even care about some of the bands I used to listen to a lot. But some are still so sweetly familiar. It's like talking to someone in person and then being separated. For a couple of days you still have a pretty clear memory of what their voice sounds like, but when you actually hear their voice it surprises you how much more real it is than just a memory. Even though you know what they sound like, hearing them is so much richer. Talking to some people is like listening to music.

I've been posting

So, I kind of started posting pictures mainly, but I haven't had a chance to write anything about what's been going on lately with me. So for right now, I'm not even going to touch the picture thing. I will just write.

This week started a little crazy. I got back from North Carolina on Friday and I still haven't unpacked my luggage. I have been so busy, and honestly the only reason I have a room that looks like tornado damage is because I have found a few other things to do that are far more interesting than cleaning up and putting away all my things. And on Thanksgiving break, you have to spend time with your visiting family members and visiting future family members.

I started reading my first book (not the first ever, just the first in the recent past) last Sunday night too. It's called Civil War Chronicle. I read until maybe Tuesday and haven't found time to read it since, but I really enjoyed the parts I read. I will have to continue.

I miss speaking Spanish to people. I have been able to talk to Nic in Spanish quite a bit, I'm just glad that he's living in Boise for now, or I would be pretty lonely. I tried to speak Spanish to a family in Costco about a week ago, but we didn't have much time to converse. I found out that they are members of the Church, and attend the Cassia branch. So that was fun. I miss North Carolina, and I miss all the Mexicans and Peruvians and Ticos and Salvadorenos, and Chilenos, and Catrachos, and mostly all the people from La Ciudad de Mexico and Guerrero.

It snowed this morning. It's so incredibly cold here in Boise. I'm glad it didn't snow until last night though, because I know a lot of people that were driving long distances yesterday in areas colder than here. They all got there all right, so that's good. And today I have big plans. I'm going to start by eating a good breakfast and cleaning my room and unpacking my stuff. Then I might give blood, and after that I might read a little, or find a job. I could really use the money, because I have some big expensive plans coming up next semester. It will all be worth it, but I need to match to worth with work, which I will gladly do to ensure that I can do everything that I need to. Work, work, work.

All I want for Chrifmaf...

Thanksgiving Day, 2006. Yep, I broke my
tooth off again. So now I can whistle again.

Some folks from Hickory

This is us with Angel, Carmen, and Laura.
They are amazing people, I love them to death.


This is a very dark picture of the Quino family
in Hudson, NC. They are from Peru, and they
had just moved in from Rhode Island. They
were the first family I met in Hickory. 

Some folks from Hickory

This is us with Edmundo. We were teaching
him English and he liked to eat with us every
Sunday evening. The stuffed animals aren't his.


Us with Mario Vasquez, a Costa Rican. He fed
us every other Monday, always Japanese food.


Hermana Flores with her pass-along card. She
moved into the branch from Charlotte about
half a week before I finished my mission. We
went to visit her in Mills River, NC.

This is the Aranda family, one of our all time
favorite families in the area. Top: Raquel,
Jareth, Alfredo, me, Elder Livingston.
Bottom: Raquel, Hiram. 

Some folks from Hickory

Us with Samuel Patoni. His floor is
only messy because we were helping
him assemble a huge entertainment
center. He's the guy who sang at the
talent show in Charlotte.


Familia Vasquez. Top: us. Middle: Daniel,
Hno. Brenes, Hna. y Hno. Vasquez.
Bottom: Mosiah, Axel.

Some of the coolest kids ever. They are with
the Chavez family.


The Chavez family, minus Hno. Chavez. 

One of the hot ones

These pictures come from Statesville, NC



We almost got some really good pictures, but
the sun went down before we could get our
cameras ready. Trust me, it was good. 

Late night fashion show

Elder Livingston, building mind and body.


Happy birthday to you.

Elder Livingston making tortillas, with style. 

It took us an hour

When you bike all the way to a city
you may as well take a picture. 

Raquel and Hiram's birthday party

Elder Livingston the turtle

Elder Harris the squirrel 

Newton Conover High

"You play football like a gurl!" 

Hickory Spanish

This is the lampshade where everyone who
comes to the area writes their name and
years of service in the North Carolina Charlotte
Mission. One of my trainers is at the very
top, and I am at the very bottom. My other
trainer is on here twice, and my second
companion was also here. 

Regional Spanish Conference

This is a picture of almost all the Spanish
speaking missionaries as of September '06.
Back: Elders LeSeuer, Harris, Livingston,
Osuna, Olson, Burgoyne, Kellogg, Larsen.
Middle: Elders Caicedo, Garcia, Salguero.
Front: Elders Rohrer, Garza, Killian, Mitchell,
Whitmore. Far Right: Cesar Marin, one of my
favorite people from Winston-Salem


Samuel Patoni, singing at the talent show.


Elder Harris, Cesar Marin, Elder Osuna